After last night's win over the Celtics, Blake Griffin answered questions from reporters while wearing a fake mustache. This was in response to Chris Paul's State Farm commercial (seen below) in which his separated-at-birth twin, Cliff Paul, is a mustachioed insurance agent.
During the game, announcer Reggie Miller and Clippers superfan Billy Crystal also donned fake mustaches and glasses, which were part of a fan giveaway...
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The way in which the Golden State Warriors beat the LA Clippers last night is what matters.
On paper, the result was understandable. The Clips were playing the second night of a back-to-back, while the Warriors had been off since Saturday. In addition, LA just had their 17-game win streak broken, and still looked to be in the midst of that hangover.
But Golden State didn't just win, they punked them, 115-94.
1. They didn't give up anything easy (via SB Nation):
The Clippers create momentum with big dunks better than any team in the NBA except the Heat. Golden State wouldn't let it happen.
The Warriors used 27 team fouls, holding LA's inside tandem of Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan to 3/14 shooting in the process. They also out rebounded them by 15.
The definitive play came when Festus Ezeli grabbed Griffin's arm to prevent him from going up for a dunk. Griffin flailed in the air, then came down awkwardly. You never want to see someone get hurt on a dunk, but you also have the right to check his fearlessness with a hard foul or two.
2. They swaggered the way the Clippers usually swagger (via r/NBA):
The Clippers rub people the wrong way sometimes by throwing alley-oops in garbage time, prancing around the court after routine plays, and generally being cocky.
In the third quarter, the Warriors stole some of that team-building swagger. When Blake Griffin bricked a three-pointer off the side of the backboard, the Warriors bench hilariously erupted into a strange sort of dance.
3. They played defense
The Clippers only scored 94 points, despite a 30-point fourth quarter. They turned the Warriors over an incredible 20 times, but were unable to do anything with those extra possessions.
So as well as Golden State shot the ball (50% from the field), it was the defense that really won them the game.
A year after having the fourth-worst defense in the league, Golden State is now 9th in the league (based of points per 100 possessions). Last night they held the Clips to 36% shooting and turned them over 14 times.
It's still way, way too early to say the Warriors are "legit." But this is a meaningful win for them because the substance of the game was just as good as the result. They're now 15-5 in their last 20 games.
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The LA Clippers have de-emphasized the "Lob City" moniker this year, putting together a deep team that can challenge anyone in the West when its clicking right.
But they can still whip out some spectacular dunks every once in a while.
Last night, Blake Griffin threw down an exceedingly difficult jam against the Sixers. He went up planning to dunk with his right hand, but when Spencer Hawes came to defend he somehow contorted his body around Hawes in mid-air, put the ball in his left hand, and dunked.
Griffin is known for his power, but this is just all body control:
He positions his body to dunk with the right hand:
But then he switches to the left:
And he throws it down:
His teammates couldn't even comprehend what happened:
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Dunking is the defining characteristic of Blake Griffin's game.
He went mainstream by posterizing a handful of centers, he jumped over a car in the only memorable dunk contest of the last five years, and he even joked about his dunk-centric skillset in a Kia commercial.
But in the last year or so Griffin's victims have gotten fed up, and we've seen a rise in guys hard-fouling him at the rim.
Last night Griffin pulled off a spectacular slam on Pacers center Ian Mahimni. But as he was going up Mahimni stood his ground and fouled Griffin, send him awkwardly falling to the ground.
If his foot doesn't break his fall, this could have been much worse:
We saw an even more dramatic example of this last year when Robin Lopez got ejected for fouling Blake hard:
There's nothing dirty about fouling at guy when he goes up for a dunk. And that's exactly why it's so dangerous for Griffin to keep attempting these spectacular, posterizing dunks over bigger opponents.
NBA centers hate to get embarrassed, and they are going to do what they can do keep from becoming the next Timofey Mozgov.
Griffin was catching opponents off guard during his first few years in the league. Now the entire NBA knows he wants to make a poster out of someone, and they're prepared to knock him out of the air to prevent it.
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Yesterday's Thunder-Clippers game was marred by an incident in the fourth quarter where OKC big man Serge Ibaka appeared to intentionally punch Blake Griffin in the groin.
The announcers and the crowd both thought Ibaka should have been ejected. After the game, Griffin agreed, saying he was surprised Ibaka was allowed to stay in the game.
Ibaka was only given a flagrant-1 foul, and the Thunder went on to win. Here's the chop (full video below):
If the refs thought it was intentional, they would have ejected Ibaka. So they obviously saw it as an accident.
That's kind of how Ibaka explained it after the game, but not entirely (via Sam Amick of USA Today):
"He hit my hands away. He's strong, so when he grabs you, your jersey or whatever, and you try to defend yourself and rebound. So maybe you can do some move, not to hurt, (but) just to get good position. But then something happens where you get hurt in the paint. It's not anything where I want to try to hurt him. I'm not that kind of person. I just try to play hard, and that's it."
So Ibaka is saying that he intentionally retaliated, but unintentionally hit him in the groin.
Based on that explanation, he probably still should have been ejected — even if it was an accident that the punch landed where it did, he threw it purposefully.
Here's the full video:
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It isn't the slam dunk contest, but it is the Los Angeles Clippers and Lob City. And even then, this alley-oop between Jamal Crawford's legs to Blake Griffin needs to be seen to be believed.
Here's the video (via Fox Sports)...
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DeAndre Jordan caught a lob from Chris Paul, steamrolled Pistons guard Brandon Knight, and threw down one of the most stunning dunks of the year last night.
After the game, the NBA's preeminent dunker Blake Griffin told the AP, "That was the best dunk of the year and the best I've seen in person."
The dunk:
To play devil's advocate, a lot of what makes this dunk so awesome wasn't really of Jordan's doing. Yes, he steamrolled Knight, but he didn't necessarily do anything that different from a normal alley-oop, Knight just happened to be underneath him.
It was amazing, yes. But Knight was really in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The most common reaction for players, fans, and coaches was pure astonishment.
Jordan himself:
Blake Griffin had to be held back by his coach:
Chris Paul just wondered around for a little:
Lamar Odom (center top):
A little kid in the ground was going nuts:
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If you are the Los Angeles Clippers, after a while you have to start getting creative with your alley-oops. And last night, Blake Griffin took the alley from Chris Paul, caught it with one hand, cocked it behind his head, and then threw it down with extreme prejudice.
Griffin has had similar dunks in the past. But if those were eights and nines, this one was a ten...
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Here is a next-level photo of Blake Griffin and Pau Gasol after a whistle in yesterday's Lakers-Clippers game.
It is not photoshopped:
WOW:
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The two biggest free agents in the NBA this summer will be Dwight Howard and Chris Paul and they want to be teammates next season according to Chris Broussard of ESPN.com.
According to Marc Stein and Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com, the Clippers are willing to give the Lakers Blake Griffin and Eric Bledsoe in a sign-and-trade to make it happen.
And even though there are a number of reasons to believe this blockbuster deal will never happen, the rumors won't go away.
There are already reports that the Lakers are not interested. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports states flatly that the Lakers have "fully resisted Clippers overtures," and has a source that says "[the Lakers] will never do it."
And then there are the Boston Celtics.
In addition to Howard, the Clippers are also trying to acquire Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and head coach Doc Rivers from Boston.
The Celtics want compensation for releasing Rivers from the three years remaining on his contract. And according to Shelburne and Stein, one of the players the Celtics want is Bledsoe.
Of course, the biggest factor is that the Lakers still want to re-sign Howard. Even if the Lakers are keeping all their options open at this point, there is no rush to get a deal done.
Ultimately the Clippers will be forced to make the deal with the Celtics, something that would happen sooner, rather than later. And once that happens, the Howard-for-Griffin rumor should go away.
NBA.com just posted a collection of its best video bombs of the year. It's hilarious.
Miami Heat goof Chris Bosh makes several appearances, frequently displaying his legendary Chris Bosh face.
Other stars like Chris Paul, LeBron James, Blake Griffin and Chauncey Billups all appear in a great public relations move.
The Los Angeles Clippers overcame their opening night loss to the Lakers with a 126-115 win over the Warriors. Chris Paul led the way with 42 points, but it was three of his 15 assists that created the most buzz.
Midway through the third quarter, the Clippers picked up three straight turnovers and all three ended with a classic Lob City alley-oop from Chris Paul to Blake Griffin. Between the first dunk and the last, just 35 seconds elapsed off the game clock...
In Foot Locker's new ad, Chris Paul's son steal's Blake Griffin's locker, and Griffin has to use a public locker at a bus station.
It's pretty funny:
The final game ESPN/ABC's Christmas NBA marathon was the best of the day.
The Golden State Warriors beat the Los Angeles Clippers 105-103 in a game that ended in a scuffle and featured multiple ejections.
After Jamal Crawford's three-pointer fell short as time expired, Chris Paul and Andrew Bogut got into a pushing-and-shoving match near the bench:
After the game, Clippers coach Doc Rivers said the Warriors started the chippy play because they were losing.
"We were kicking their butt, and they went to something else,"he told reporters.
Earlier in the game, Blake Griffin was ejected for elbowing Bogut in the head. Griffin didn't like the call, and then called the Warriors "cowardly" in the postgame presser (via LA Times):
"To be honest, I thought I got two technicals for nothing. It all boils down to they [officials] fell for it. I think it's cowardly basketball."
The video:
Draymond Green was also ejected for an earlier elbow.
These teams have some history.
Earlier last season the Warriors smoked the Clippers at home — a win that solidified their status as an up-and-coming power in the west.
After Griffin clanked a three-pointer, the Warriors benched clowned him, which didn't sit well:
They play again on January 30th in Oakland.
Blake Griffin absolutely posterized Kris Humphries during the third quarter of the Clippers-Celtics game on Wednesday.
Griffin's "dunk" also drew a priceless reaction from teammate DeAndre Jordan, who put his hands on his head in disbelief.
Watch the it all here:
Blake Griffin threw down one of his best dunks of the year on Wednesday night, sprinting from behind halfcourt for a put-back slam against the Warriors.
The dunk itself was spectacular. But the most amazing part is Blake's position on the court when Danny Granger's shot went up.
He wasn't even in the frame:
Here's the video (more below):
He doesn't come into the picture until the shot is halfway to the hoop.
You can't get too far into any analysis of Aaron Gordon's game without running into a Blake Griffin comparison.
NBA Draft analysts aren't comparing him to the dominant Blake Griffin of today. They're comparing him to the raw, 18-year-old Blake Griffin who came into Oklahoma as a freshman in 2007.
They're both freakish athletes who couldn't shoot, beat guys off the dribble, or dominate games on a consistent basis. Gordon is a little taller and more versatile, but they're very similar in one area — dunking.
Gordon is the most explosive dunker in the country. While he's behind fellow freshmen Jabari Parker and Julius Randle in his all-around game, he's unmatched in this one area.
The Sweet 16 is devoid of some of college basketball's biggest stars. Gordon is the guy who could break out.
Whatever happens with both the deciding Game Seven against the Warriors Saturday night, and with the Los Angeles Clippers new search for an owner, Blake Griffin will have a Pacific Palisades paradise to retreat to.
The NBA superstar and dunk machine recently bough a $9 million custom-built "Cape Cod-inspired" 9,100 square-foot home, according toRealtor.com. The mansion is located in the celebrity-lush alcove between Malibu and Santa Monica, and is spread across three floors.
Amenities include a home theater with stadium seating, three fireplaces, a salt water pool, and six bedroom suites.
In his first post on Derek Jeter's website The Players' Tribune, Blake Griffin recalled an awkward party experience he had with Donald Sterling in 2009 after the Clippers drafted him.
It was Sterling's annual "White Party" in Malibu, where every attendee wore all white clothes and the decor was entirely white.
It was the first time Griffin met Sterling since he was drafted.
Griffin says Sterling hired two supermodels in Clippers shirts to lead him around. Here's how he describes the uncomfortable experience:
"Donald Sterling literally introduced me to everyone. Here’s how he did it, every single time, to every single group of people, while holding on to my hand:
'Everyone, have you met our newest star? This is Blake! He was the number one pick in the entire NBA draft. Number one! Blake, where are you from?'
"Then I’d say I was from Oklahoma.
'Oklahoma! And tell these people what you think about LA.'
"Then I’d say it was pretty cool.
"'And what about the women in LA, Blake?'"
Griffin says when he tried to walk away while Sterling spoke to guests, Sterling yanked his hand and pull him back. He says at one point a guest said to him, "Just keep smiling, man, it'll all be over soon."
Sterling has since been banned from NBA and forced to sell the Clippers, which Steve Ballmer bought for $2 billion this summer. Griffin claims the atmosphere around the organization is totally different and brighter since Sterling left.
Read Griffin's entire piece here >
SEE ALSO: Donald Sterling's Wife Is Still Going To Be Part Of Clippers Organization With Some Weird Perks
Back in February, we put together a list of the 25 best players in the NBA at the time. And looking at it today, there are at least one or two guys on that list who don't belong anywhere near a collection of the best players in the NBA right now.
For example, Roy Hibbert, who landed at No. 25? After what we saw from him in the NBA Playoffs last season, no. Just no. There are also a few players like Anthony Davis, who landed at No. 11 in February, who have clearly improved a lot in the offseason and deserve to be ranked even higher this time around. And of course, there are a couple other players, including Derrick Rose, who were left off the list last season due to injuries. But they deserve to be on it today.
Isn't that one of the things that's so great about the NBA? In a matter of just months, players can shoot up "best player" lists or fall off of them completely due to poor play (or in some cases, injuries, which why you unfortunately won't find Paul George, who was No. 3 on the list in February, on the list now). It leads to endless amounts of debate amongst NBA fans and makes it important for people to stay up on what's going on within the league at all times.
As we prepare to tip off the 2014-15 NBA season later this week, here's our list of The 25 Best Players in the NBA Right Now.
Team: Los Angeles Lakers
2013-14 Stats: 13.8 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 6.3 APG, 1.2 SPG (only played six games due to injury)
At 36, Kobe clearly isn't the player that he used to be at the start of his career. Hell, he's probably not even the player he was two years ago before a series of leg injuries sidelined him and forced everyone to wonder whether or not he'd ever be able to play at a high level again. But if nothing else, Kobe is determined right now. Determined to show NBA fans that he can play for between 30 and 40 minutes every night. Determined to prove that he's still got a little bit of gas left in the tank. And determined to score 593 points to pass Michael Jordan on the NBA's all-time scoring list.
Kobe's not going to lead the Lakers to a championship this season. And he probably won't even lead them to the playoffs. But he will give us a reason to watch the Lakers again, which is something that we avoided at all costs last season. Kobe is back, and the NBA is better for it.
Team: San Antonio Spurs
2013-14 Stats: 15.8 PPG, 7.7 RPG, 2.5 APG, 2.1 SPG
When the Spurs swingman first came into the league, he was known primarily for his defense and his ability to rebound the basketball. His offensive skills were an afterthought and there weren't many people who thought he would develop into a reliable scorer for San Antonio. But after a pretty solid showing in the 2013 NBA Finals, Leonard proved his doubters wrong by shooting 61.8 percent from the field during the 2014 NBA Finals and winning the Finals MVP award while leading the Spurs to a 4-1 series win over the Heat.
At just 22, Leonard is only going to get better, too. He'll be relied upon to score more this season and, once he beats the lingering eye infection that has kept him out of most of the preseason this year, we fully expect him to pick up where he left off last season with the Spurs.
Team: Dallas Mavericks
2013-14 Stats: 21.7 PPG, 6.2 RPG, 2.7 APG, 0.9 SPG
Now that he's 36, Nowitzki is finding that he's unable to do some of the things that he used to do on the court. He has struggled with injuries in recent years and can't play as many minutes as he did a few seasons ago. But that doesn't mean that he can't be an effective player anymore. He has reportedly worked on making his shot release even quicker than it already was, which will make it difficult for opponents to defend him. He is trying to incorporate a sky hook into his arsenal, which would just be unfair to the opposition. And thanks to the offseason addition of Chandler Parsons to the Mavericks roster, Nowitzki won't have to worry about shouldering the load for Dallas anymore. So he should continue to produce for Dallas, even though he's clearly entering the twilight of his career.
